Stop Racial and Religious Profiling in Massachusetts

A federal surveillance program called Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) is targeting Massachusetts, and it endangers Muslims, people of color, and political dissidents . The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) has announced it will work with federal prosecutors to carry out this campaign, and health and social service workers may soon be encouraged to profile their clients for signs of so-called “radicalization” or “extremism.” Similar programs in the United Kingdom didn’t stop violence: they only brought widespread racial and religious profiling.

BORDC/DDF is joining with the ACLU of Massachusetts, Jewish Voice for Peace – Boston, the Muslim Justice League, the Council on American Islamic Relations of Massachusetts, and Restore the 4th to call on EOHHS to decline participation in federal CVE programs.

Service providers should only break confidentiality in cases of direct threats of violence, not in response to signs of so-called “radicalization” or “extremism.” A decade of CVE programs in the United Kingdom has resulted in widespread racial and religious profiling, loss of confidentiality in health and social services, and suppression of political dissent. There is no evidence that CVE has made anyone safer.

Participation in CVE will undermine service provider integrity and exacerbate marginalization of Muslims and other underserved communities. Decreased trust in service providers will also decrease health outcomes and prove costly to the Commonwealth in the long-term. We ask you to protect the health, safety, and human rights of all Massachusetts communities by rejecting this program.